What to wear for a newbie female triathlete?

[andygates]

My weirdsister has taken up the challenge and is doing the Edinburgh Hogmanay sprint tri as her first. She's not planning on a career and doesn't own a tri suit, but she has tons of bike and swim gear. Without spending on a garment she might only use once, what sort of ad-hoc kit would you lovely people recommend?

Ladies, what did you wear for your first time? ;)

[rplong]

most around here that aren't into triathlons big time will just wear a regular one-piece swim suit....

[Enthalpic]

most around here that aren't into triathlons big time will just wear a regular one-piece swim suit....

+1

Tell her to throw some bike shorts and a jersey over top if she is too modest/ugly for just a suit. ;) I've seem women running in sweatpants... (crazy).

[biffstephens]

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/default.asp

A good place to start..they have a store as well, preatty good deals..

[tajsss]

My wife wore a sports bra and swimsuits bottom for her first tri. She threw on some bike shorts in T1 so she was more comfortable on the ride. Then took off the bike shorts and threw on some running shorts in T2. She just left the sports bra the whole time and went shirtless. She had no problems with this and said it worked fine. After deciding to do some more tri's she finally invested in some tri shorts but still just uses a sports bra as most trisuits and tri-tops do not offer enough support for her.

[andygates]

Thanks for the tips. She's decided that it's an excuse to go shopping (women!), so she'll probably do it in a spanky top-end Orca race suit and look good in it, dammit. :)

[merlinextraligh]

Thanks for the tips. She's decided that it's an excuse to go shopping

Isn't that the fourth discipline in triathlon, gear collecting?

[RoadToad]

Isn't that the fourth discipline in triathlon, gear collecting?

Yeah Baby!

[andygates]

You better believe it: This is not what I'd expect for a first-event, maybe I'll hate it, tri-dare kind of thing unless you're a serious kit queen: http://www.primera-bournemouth.co.uk/details.asp?TABLE=type&FKID=98&type=Clothing&ID=1836

[sweetharriet]

I strongly prefer a quicker-drying sports bra made of swimsuit-esque material. Both Tyr and Zoot make them, and they're stocked in good bike and tri stores. I have regular tri shorts (skinnier, quicker-drying chamois than full-on bike shorts) and a top from someplace like sportsbasement.com in regular rotation - she just needs to find out what size from which brand fits. Depending on the length of the race, having tri-specific clothing is an option.

She's not weird for doing tris, I hope.

[sweetharriet]

My weirdsister has taken up the challenge and is doing the Edinburgh Hogmanay sprint tri as her first. She's not planning on a career and doesn't own a tri suit, but she has tons of bike and swim gear. Without spending on a garment she might only use once, what sort of ad-hoc kit would you lovely people recommend?

Ladies, what did you wear for your first time? ;)

I started with tri shorts and a random quik-dry top. i switched to a one-piece for my first 1/2, and like it as well. What she's going to really have to invest in if she decides to regularly swim in the North Sea is a good wetsuit.

Tell her to post her report, so I can talk details. Like if I can crash at her place to do the Hogmanay tri next year. :)

[andygates]

Well yes, the sea up there is a tad brisk :)

I don't think she uses bikeforums.net but she's online at www.ravenfamily.org/sam :)

[Sprocket Man]

One thing for modest ladies to keep in mind - many of the tri-suits are quite a bit more see-through than you might imagine. Even the black ones. I was recently snapping pictures of people coming out of the water at a local race. I had inadvertantly left the flash on. What I photographed is known by some photographers as the "Alexandra Kerry Effect". Even when a swimsuit looks like it's opaque, when photographed with a strong light source, the swimsuit may be see-through. If you want to see this what this looks like, do a google image search of Alexandra Kerry.

And in case you were wondering - No, I won't post any of the above-mentioned pictures here.:)

[^*^BATMAN^*^]

I vote for no bra....a white tank top....and some daisy duke shorts....She will win for sure...All the guys will crash their bikes when the see her....

[darkwing7]

Wouldn't that be awesome.

[evanyc]

how bout for guys?

my first tri is a sprint. my plan was to rent a wetsuit (what do you wear under these, anything?), then switch to some cycling shorts and a jersey, then switch to some running shorts and leave on the jersey. that should be fine right?

[biffstephens]

how bout for guys?

my first tri is a sprint. my plan was to rent a wetsuit (what do you wear under these, anything?), then switch to some cycling shorts and a jersey, then switch to some running shorts and leave on the jersey. that should be fine right?

You can wear your stuff under the suit.....most people swim bike and run in the same thing. That way the changing does not effect your transition time plus there are no facilities to change in usually....

Tri shorts have a thinner pad in them so running in them is not a problem.

[rv5869]

My wife and her friends use their tri shorts for some training runs and spin classes.

[evanyc]

You can wear your stuff under the suit.....most people swim bike and run in the same thing. That way the changing does not effect your transition time plus there are no facilities to change in usually....

Tri shorts have a thinner pad in them so running in them is not a problem.

awesome. i'm just doing a sprint, so even without any padding i wouldn't be too bad off.

[Seamus]

I did my first sprint in some Tyr jammer shorts. The lack of a chamois for a 20K bike is not an issue if you do any riding at all in your training. Like others said, not having to change helps a lot on transitions.

Jim